Elk food - do they prefer grass or browse ?

[gorlosky]

Hello;I hunt the 4000 ft to 7000 ft zone of the Rockies in Montana. Do elk search out grasses first OR can they go all year on browse (twig ends, leaves, etc.), to stay higher up ? I don't find many grass meadows above 5000 feet, but below 4000 feet can get quite hot (above 80 all summer).Thanks

 

[ribo451]

We have some grasses where I hunt but it seems the elk are more interested in leafy browse during September when I am hunting them. If elderberries have frosted they seem to love them and they seem to like thimbleberry plants. I have seen them eat a lot of things but where I hunt it seems like grasses are not the preferred food source but I also hunt where there is more clearcuts and timber and not many grassy parks and meadows.
But everything I read says they evolved on the plains eating grass so maybe they do it when I'm not looking.

 

[gorlosky]

Thanks. I guess I will have to look in the drainages, as I have only seen those plants in moist sunny open spots. I do see a bush that in the winter is all reddish twigs and seem to be nibbled on, but don't know what that is, or if just the deer are eating it.

 

[Rdub]

In my experience elk are grazers. They chew a cud like cattle and are a plains animal that has been pushed into the Rockies. I see more and more out on the flats west of I25 in northern Colorado.